Penn State’s loss to Notre Dame in Thursday’s Orange Bowl felt, initially, like an opportunity wasted. A pair of standout running backs, a quarterback with first-round NFL Draft potential and a defensive line led by arguably the best defensive player in college football. That’s what James Franklin had, and he ultimately couldn’t earn a trip to the national championship.
The frustrations were evident in the postgame locker room. This was a team that felt it belonged, that felt it was good enough to win the whole thing. But behind the curtain of the defeat was an expectation, a bar that was newly set for a team that had exceeded expectations and made a trip to the College Football Playoff semifinal.
Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, two running backs who each eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards in 2024, have since announced their returns for the 2025 season. Dani Dennis-Sutton, who broke out of the shadow cast by Abdul Carter’s greatness in the College Football Playoff, did too. Zane Durant, a standout defensive tackle, and safety Zakee Wheatley, the Fiesta Bowl’s defensive MVP, are also coming back.
Starting center Nick Dawkins announced on Tuesday that he will return for his final year of eligibility, and Smith Vilbert, a key contributor at defensive end in 2024, announced he will be back for one more season after being granted a medical redshirt.
And quarterback Drew Allar, who linebacker Kobe King called the “heartbeat” of the Nittany Lions, will officially join the crew and return after “reviewing his NFL options,” The Athletic’s Dana Brugler reported on Monday. King is now the last remaining starter with both eligibility and draftability who has yet to make his decision.
This past season was Franklin’s most opportunistic since he was hired in 2014. Penn State had a path to the playoff without beating Ohio State. And even after losing the Big Ten Championship against Oregon, the Nittany Lions earned a favorable draw in the playoff by facing SMU and Boise State in the first two rounds.
Franklin had a clear shot at the semifinal, and once he got there, his team matched up with a beatable Fighting Irish program marred by injuries, both before and during the game. But despite an early 10-0 advantage and a fourth-quarter lead, Penn State could not overcome its big-game struggles. When, if ever, will it?
The 2025 season. That must be the year, right? The bar is set. The talent remains. Another season of offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, who Franklin has publicly stated “will be a head coach” one day, should only help. The Nittany Lions, not even a week removed from concluding one of their most illustrious seasons in program history, are already looking ahead to next fall.
Penn State is going all in for a national championship in 2025.
“We were on the brink of greatness, and that taste of what could be has only made me hungrier,” Dennis-Sutton wrote on Monday. “The job’s not done yet — we’ve got unfinished business to take care of. I’m coming back more determined than ever to dominate on the field, chase the elusive championship and leave my mark on this legendary program.”
Franklin has stated, time and again, that he refuses to lead a program that over-utilizes the transfer portal. He’ll use it when needed, but he’s more focused on traditional high school recruiting, on in-house development. There’s a reason Franklin isn’t on the forefronts of the transfer portal and instead focuses his attention on retaining players already on roster.
“I understand the transfer portal is a part of college football now, and NIL is a part of college football, and we’ll embrace those things too. But I want this experience to be so much more than a transactional experience. I want it to be transformational,” an emotional Franklin said after the Orange Bowl. “That’s what it’s all about for me.”
That model worked well for Michigan in 2023. That was the year the Wolverines brought back loads of NFL talent in running back Blake Corum, defensive tackle Kris Jenkins and offensive lineman Zak Zinter — the list goes on — while pairing that veteran core with a blooming quarterback in J.J. McCarthy. That team went undefeated and won the national championship.
Ohio State has followed the same code this season. It somehow retained defensive ends Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, running back TreVeyon Henderson all while adding running back Quinshon Judkins, cornerback Caleb Downs and quarterback Will Howard. The Buckeyes preserved their nucleus and will now compete for a title on Jan. 20.
The Nittany Lions are following the same code entering next season. Sure, they could still use help at wide receiver even after adding Kyron Hudson from USC and Devonte Ross from Troy. But the nucleus remains intact, even with the reported departure of defensive coordinator Tom Allen to Clemson.
The team’s schedule isn’t any less doable than it was this past season. It includes Oregon and Ohio State, but outside of those two, there isn’t any program Penn State should lose to, at least with the current state of its roster. It wasn’t always the case, but two losses will get a team into the College Football Playoff. Ohio State lost twice and is now the favorite to win it all.
Franklin is set to lead an experienced group, many of whom have experienced just about everything there is to experience in the sport of college football. College Football Playoff wins and losses. The Big Ten Championship. High expectations. Embarrassing defeats. Bouts with various forms of adversity.
And they’ve all experienced those things together. Next year’s Penn State team knows what it takes to play and win consistently over a 16-game season. Only three other teams, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Texas, will have known what that’s like. The groundwork has been set. The hype is beginning to form.
The Nittany Lions are becoming a serious — yes, serious — title contender in 2025.
